Health Benefits of Cycling

“Cycling is good for your heart and muscles, and it may improve how you walk, balance, and climb stairs.”

Harvard Medical school

To be fit and healthy you need to be physically active. Regular physical activity can help protect you from serious diseases such as obesity, heart disease, cancer, mental illness, diabetes and arthritis.

Cycling is a healthy, low-impact exercise that can be enjoyed by people of all ages, from young children to older adults.

It is also fun, cheap and good for the environment.

“It’s socially oriented, it’s fun, and it gets you outside and exercising,” says Dr. Clare Safran-Norton, a physical therapist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Here’s the list of Health Benefits of Cycling

1. Cycling May Help You to Lose Weight

If you’re trying to lose weight, cycling must be combined with a healthy eating plan. Cycling is a comfortable form of exercise and you can change the time and intensity – it can be built up slowly and varied to suit you.

Research suggests you should be burning at least 8,400 kilojoules (about 2,000 calories) a week through exercise. Steady cycling burns about 1,200 kilojoules (about 300 calories) per hour.

If you cycle twice a day, the kilojoules burnt soon add up. British research shows that a half-hour bike ride every day will burn nearly five kilograms of fat over a year.

2. Cycling Will Help Strengthen Your Leg

Cycling improves overall function in your lower body and strengthens your leg muscles without over stressing your joints. It targets your quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves.

This advantage may come as no surprise, given how hard you peddle while biking. For an even more challenging workout, you can increase the resistance on your exercise bike. Or you can ride in a lower gear (higher resistance) while biking outside. 

3. It May Lower Cholesterol Level

The health-enhancing effects of cycling may help improve cholesterol levels, which can boost your cardiovascular health and lower your chances of stroke and heart attack.

According to one review of 300 studies, indoor cycling has a positive effect on total cholesterol. It may boost HDL (good) cholesterol levels while lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

Cycling strengthens your heart muscles, lowers resting pulse and reduces blood fat levels. 

A Danish study conducted over 14 years with 30,000 people aged 20 to 93 years found that regular cycling protected people from heart disease.

4. Cycling Boosts Mental Health and Brain Power

Cycling can ease feelings of stress, depression, or anxiety.

Focusing on the road or your cadence when cycling can help you develop concentration and awareness of the present moment. This may help take your focus away from the mental chatter of your day.

Research backs this up. One study found that biking outside improved cognitive functioning and well-being for older adults.

If you find yourself feeling lethargic, listless, or like your brain is moving slowly, get on your bike for at least 10 minutes.

Exercise promotes the release of endorphins in your body, which helps you feel better while lowering your stress levels. As the study above found, exercise outdoors only increases these effects

You may feel more confident and content once you make cycling a regular part of your life.

5. It Can Help People With Cancer

Cycling is a fantastic addition to your care plan if you have or are recovering from cancer. However, many cancer patients experience low energy and pain during treatment, so be sure to work with your care team, listen to your body, and exercise only if you’re up for it.

Cycling can also help keep you lean and fit, which may reduce your risk for certain types of cancer, including breast cancer.

According to research from 2019, if you have breast cancer, staying active may help reduce side effects of cancer treatment, including fatigue, and improve your overall quality of life.

6. Cycling Offers Positive Start to Your Morning

Beginning your day with a healthy activity like cycling wakes you up by boosting your circulation and allows you to start your day with a sense of accomplishment.

You may feel more inclined to make healthy, positive choices as the day progresses.

Fasted morning rides at a low intensity may burn fat, enhance endurance performance, and boost your energy and metabolism levels all day.

7. It Improves Balance, Posture, and Coordination

As you stabilize your body and keep your bike upright, you’ll improve your overall balance and coordination and even your gait .

Cycling can stimulate motor regions in the central nervous system and activate the cerebral cortex, which may help improveTrusted Source motor learning and balance.

As a result, experts may recommend cycling as part of an effective rehabilitation program for people who experience balance problems and issues with walking.

It can also help a person improve their core stability, which can help prevent injuries.

8. Cycling is Environmentally Friendly

Cycling is the most sustainable mode of urban transportation and causes virtually no environmental damage.

It also takes up little space and is economical for cyclists and public infrastructure. This makes it environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable.

Recent research in Europe found that commuting by bike instead of by car once a day decreases your transportation carbon footprint by 67%.